The Challenge of Romney Marsh
By Jill Eddison
Romney Marsh is one of the three great marshlands of England - but in terms of modern research into its occupation, reclamation and history, it is still very much the poor relation of the Fens and Somerset Levels.
Until the Soil Survey Memoir by R. D. Green was published in 1968, the "story" of the Marsh was based on Camden (1586) and Dugdale (1662), built upon by a Victorian engineer and historians (Arch.Cant.XIII) and by 20th-century specialists working individually on Saxon Charters or geomorphology.
More up-to-date research is urgently needed. Already we can show that neither the Rhee "Wall" (in fact, a canal) nor Dymchurch Wall were Roman; that the "Archbishops' Innings" were not innings from the sea at all; and that the sea took at least fifty years to wash away Old Winchelsea - rather than just the one storm described so graphically by Camden some 300 years after the event.
The 12th and 13th century inundation of Romney Marsh.
The Marsh contains research topics of infinite challenge: the fluctuating fortunes of four Cinque Ports; topography, drainage ditches, and church sites - which surely go back much earlier than the church fabrics suggest; peat beds and sediments to provide evidence of prehistoric and later environments; a unique series of medieval innings (after storms had made half the Marsh into tidal flats for a time, and also overwhelmed New Romney - see map and photograph).
New Romney Church, partly buried by silt and sand thrown up in 13th century storms.
Major problems are still unanswered. Where were the courses of the River Rother before 1257? Who built the Rhee canal, when and why? Which was the original port of Romney? Because almost all the Marsh has been inundated by the sea since the Roman period, the problems must be approached by historians and archaeologists working in close conjunction with geographers and geologists.
A Romney Marsh Workshop is to be held, under the auspices of the Kent Archaeological Society, at Tenterden on Saturday 20th October 1984, with some 5 or 6 speakers, all involved in research on the Marsh. Tickets (limited numbers, price £1, payable to the K.A.S. with S.A.E.) from Mrs Jill Eddison.
